Sanatana Dharma must be abolished: Udhayanidhi Stalin sparks fresh storm in Tamil Nadu assembly, BJP hits back

During his maiden speech in the house, Stalin repeated his comment on 'Santana Dharma', which he had made in 2023, a remark that sparked off a nationwide outrage and even led to multiple court cases being filed by pro-Hindu organisations.

“Sanatana Dharma, which divides the people, must certainly be abolished,” he said in the House as quoted by The New Indian Express.

Earlier, the Madras High Court had observed his 2023 remark on 'Sanatana Dharma' amounted to “hate speech.”

The court had made the observation when it quashed an FIR filed by the Tiruchi city police against BJP leader Amit Malviya, who was accused of distorting Udhayanidhi’s comments.

While giving his observation, Justice S. Sreemathy noted that Udhayanidhi had said that Sanatana Dharma should not merely be opposed but should be “abolished or eradicated.”

The judge pointed out that the Tamil expression used by the minister was not Sanatana ethirppu (opposition to Sanatana) but Sanatana ozhippu (eradication of Sanatana), The Week reported.

“The minister’s remarks amount to hate speech,” the judge had said.

In his controversial remark made while attending a conference in Chennai in 2023, Udhayanidhi was quoted as saying by The Week: "A few things cannot be merely opposed but must be abolished. We can’t just oppose dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or corona. They must be eradicated. Rather than opposing Sanatana, it should be eradicated."

Meanwhile, reacting to his latest remark,the Bharatiya Janata Party wrote on X: "  𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥 𝐍𝐚𝐝𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲… 𝐒𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞."